The Surprise Valley Spirits Season Review

By Greg Nims

1.07.2005

Surprise Valley, OR (AP) - Ugh. Another painful season for a once storied franchise. While we finished with 79 wins and battled for a playoff spot into the season's final weekend (thanks to the weak SL Central), it was a struggle once again.

The team takes it's name from the Widespread Panic song Surprise Valley, which has the following lyrics:

Oh, kiss the mountain air we breathe
Good-bye it's time to fly.
Sparrow climb, the air is thinner,
Open wings cast this valley in the shade.

Fires dance the shadows
Winds whisper the trees
Mother talkin' the water's
Spirit moves, it moves through all things.

The Spirits in the final line lends itself as the team mascot.

The Team

With the second pick in the draft, we were pretty happy going in. We thought about it a bunch, and in the end settle on Jason Schmidt, 17GZ starting pitcher. Can't really complain about Schmidt, as he led the league in Wins (19-11), ERA (3.02), Innings Pitched, Complete Games, Quality Starts, and pretty much every other major stat. My second and third picks were Mariano Rivera 22HZ and Guillermo Mota 19GZ, who gave me a great pen, but might have doomed the Spirits